The War of Eternity
by Mercenary Pen
Summary: War fic folks, main unit positions filled but y'all can still submit characters for secondary positions. The plot thickens within. PG-13 because almost anything can and will happen, please R and R.
1. Prologue

Okay everyone, this'll be my first ever participation-based fic, and only my second ever fic, so please, don't throw any temper tantrums. What I want from each of you, regarding your own characters for inclusion is (with examples given for my own main character):  
  
Name: Garth Meyer  
Age: 19  
Gender: Male  
  
General Appearance (What they look like): quite tall, fair skinned, black shoulder length hair (when not up in Mohican/Mohawk), grey eyes, scar on right cheek (don't go lookiing for this in Dawn of Chaos yet, it'll come up later).  
  
Preferred Mode of dress (What clothes they wear most of the time): wears punk styles outside of zoid cockpit, e.g. leather jacket, jeans, Mohican. Wears military grade flight suit inside zoid cockpit (to help him withstand extreme G-Forces)  
  
Personality Traits: Introverted, Contemplative, bucks the trend on a regular basis. Prone to going berserk in major battles, losing himself into the emotions of his zoid.  
  
Is your character a Zoid Warrior? Y/N (If not, what sort of background character are they?) Yes  
  
If your character is a Zoid Warrior, What zoid do they own? (Warning, stringent reality checks will be applied to zoids which are your own creations, don't stick too many heavy weapons on them and then expect them to stand up straight, let alone run fast) My character pilots the Dragowing, a flying draconic zoid with green armour (made of the newly developed Ultimium alloy) with both blades and laser cannons in its wings, basic energy shielding, bombs of various types (please specify types when you're writing), and a mouth mounted cannon firing a stream of superheated plasma.  
  
If your character is a Zoid Warrior, do they possess an Organoid, if so, details of name, appearance and personality must be included. This character has no organoid, yet- later I'm not sure about. (Please not too many characters with organoids, it'll mean I'll have to give 90% of the bad guys organoids)  
  
What Ambitions for the future do your characters have? My character hopes to be a great zoid pilot, but has as his main ambition becoming a strong enough pilot that he does not have to kill opponents, under any circumstances (he's seen too much death already, see my other fic, Dawn of Chaos for details)  
  
What Character Flaws does your character have (do not write none under character flaws, nobody is perfect)? He is indecisive and can, under pressure, temporarily lose his grasp on sanity (We all hope it doesn't get quite that far), also feels incredibly guilty anytime he has to use extreme measures (e.g. his zoid's top attack)  
  
What other hobbies does your character have? My character listens to Rock music, much of it Punk, studies ancient legends about all things zoids, and collects swords.  
  
Okay folks, now that we have all the basics down for your characters (back stories would be appreciated but are not essential), I'll run the basic storyline past you, so here goes:  
  
In the years since the royal cup, relations between the Helic Republic, the Guylos Empire and the Chazidi Free States, a rough coalition of island states that lived in near perpetual martial law, situated off the coast of the mainland shared by both of the other two governments. Now war has broken out between the Chazidi Free States (the term free in this case meaning free from the control of either of the other two and not being anything that reflected on the civil liberties of its people) and the other two governments, the only thing protecting the isles from the assaults of the other nations being their elite air and sea forces, the Lightning Dragons and the Black Sharks. For this reason, pilots of the zoid battle commission, who do not work in the Chazidi Free States, have been drafted to face this threat to society at large. Now you know that, you can create and submit your own characters, the first ten zoid warriors receiving major roles in the storyline and the next forty or so receiving minor roles at the very least. Mercenary Pen signing off, adios.


	2. Chapter 1: The dawn of new hope

Right everyone, now its time to get underway,  
  
Now a huge word of thanks to the following for reviewing and contributing characters to the story: Black Hole Army Commander, Kitai Matsuru, Moonyasha, Devil Dog and Mike 9. Now to answer a few of your queries.  
  
Firstly, BHAC, yes your character can be a bad guy, and it's nice to see that someone actually cares enough about the quality of the bad guys in these things.  
  
Kitai Matsuru, just so that you're aware, the brackets were for me to clarify roughly what I was after or to pass on major pieces of advice, you didn't need to stick them in the review that sent me your characters details, but thank you anyway, and plus, your the first person to ask for an organoid so of course you can have one, and finally Kitai, no your back story isn't too long by any stretch, I mean I'm writing an entire fic to cover that of my character (perhaps some of you guys could try reading it, it isn't all that bad).  
  
Moonyasha, I don't think I'll need to change anything, although, if I do, I'll certainly get into contact.  
  
Devil Dog, thanks for the confidence boost, I'm afraid that your character does curse ever so slightly by my book, although I'll agree he doesn't use the various curse words. Finally, I may need to add a couple of somethings to flesh out your character's personality just a little, hope this is okay with you. Also, I'd better just warn you now, that nice Command Wolf of yours may not see as much action as some of the other zoids, mostly because much of the resistance is likely to be in the air or the sea before we reach the islands of the enemy themselves, however, as a climber model, your CW will see some action, given as it can fight at range on top of a transport while they are in flight.  
  
Finally, Mike 9, your character should fit in okay as the unit QM (If you are unsure what a QM is, and what one does, read on), hope you are fine with that.  
  
Chapter 1: The dawn of new hope.  
  
Brevet Captain Garth Meyer entered the conference room, walking to the seat at the head of the central table where he would begin forming his unit, the Guylos-Helic Alliance assault unit that history would later refer to as the Fangs of Freedom, who would bite into the enemy, whichever form it took and not release until it held but a lifeless husk between its mighty jaws, but for now they would be known only as Omicron company, part of the mighty army of zoid pilots that the Guylos Empire and the Helic Republic had thrown together to meet this latest threat to the safety of their people. Around him as he headed to his seat stood/sat a number of prospective candidates for membership in his company, most of them young, although a handful of older, more experienced pilots, some of them the hardened veterans of previous wars, were scattered about the room. The one thing that united all of the zoid pilots before him was their level of skill, which was above average for zoid warriors in general.  
  
"Okay," Garth began, "you are all here as prospective recruits for the new Omicron company, as such, I will be your commander while you are with the company. It gives me great pleasure to announce that the following zoid pilots have all made the company already: Ari Dayton, Riley Hikada, Brady Cryer and Harry Champ. These zoid warriors are the pilots with the biggest reputations for zoid battling, the remainder of the unit positions will be filled by means of training simulations, some of which will tax you, as they have taxed me, to your very limits in the areas of skill, tactics, strategy and innovation. I wish all of you good luck, but only some of you will make the unit. The final composition of the unit will be decided in about two weeks time. If warriors Dayton, Hikada and Cryer could follow me please, I'd like a word with them in private, the rest of you are dismissed, assemble here at Oh-Seven Hundred hours tomorrow morning, until then, you are free to do anything that isn't forbidden by base regulations."  
  
And with that, he turned and walked out, leading the warriors that he had mentioned directly to his office, and closed the door behind them.  
  
"Right, the reason that I've brought the three of you here is because, pending the approval of Alliance High Command, I'm promoting the three of you to Lieutenants, you will serve as subordinates only to myself and in my absence, Frontier Command, and will be taking on responsibilities of your own. Do you three have any questions?"  
  
"Yes sir," began Brady, "what responsibilities will we be taking on?"  
  
"Aha, I thought that you'd be the first to ask that, Brady," replied Garth, "your duties are as follows, one of you will be my Executive Officer, basically the company second in command, and will be required to assist with a large part of the unit paperwork, as well as helping me to monitor unit training and morale. The rest of you will be regular secondary field commanders, and will be assigned your own squads. You will be responsible for the morale, discipline and security of the unit, as well as our reconnaissance and combat readiness. Also, at this stage in the proceedings, all of you will be involved in overviewing the construction of the unit, as well as helping me find both a quartermaster and technicians for the company. Any more questions?" there was a long silence, they had not thought that far ahead, finally, Garth continued, "One last thing before the three of you go, although my door is always open to the three of you, I'd really appreciate it if you made certain I got at least some sleep, rather than having to come running for your problems all night every night."  
  
The next morning, the prospective candidates to join the company had assembled in the briefing room where they had received a cursory you're here-now live with it speech the previous day. The newly formed officer cadre stood before them, Brevet Captain Meyer at the centre with his freshly promoted lieutenants on either side of him.  
  
"Atten-hut" roared Garth, watching as slowly, some of his men stood to attention in something that resembled the proper military fashion as closely as shark resembled a goldfish. Slowly the buzz of conversation stopped and Garth was able to begin, or at least Garth was able to order lieutenant Dayton to quiet her organoid, Ty, who had chosen that moment to start hissing at the troops assembled, perhaps warning them not to mess with the Lieutenant. Then, he began, "this morning, we begin the simulator based training program that will sort out the true members of this elite unit from the wannabe's. All warriors in the admissions groups for both this unit and also the new trainee unit Theta company will be participating, that includes myself and the Lieutenants, not to mention Harry Champ. In fact, our unit will be facing off against Theta Company in this afternoon's simulation, so make certain you still have energy reserves after this morning's exercises."  
  
This announcement was met with mixed feelings as some of the rank and file zoid warriors were cheered by the fact that even those of their number who were picked for the unit immediately would still be going through the combat simulations with them, others were muttering with apprehension at the sheer amount of energy that would be required of them for working two simulator sessions in a single day, and still others were looking forward to the company face off simulation planned for that afternoon, having met various hopefuls of the Theta company and wanting to see which of these were zoid warriors to respect and which, to put it simply, weren't.  
  
"Right," Captain Meyer continued from where he had left off, "we will split into four groups, each commanded by myself or one of the Lieutenants. Each group here will face off against another group in the simulation, their mission, to capture the enemy flag while defending their own. Unit will be split into four squads so line up please.  
  
Okay everyone, that's got everything started but I still need more zoid pilots- preferably with aerial or aquatic zoids, although if necessary I can shunt other zoids to some of the secondary companies.  
  
Unfortunately, I have too well planned a story to surrender it to the democracy of a vote just at this instant, although I shall try to offer y'all something along those lines sometime soon. 


	3. Chapter 2: Trials and Plots

Okay, this is Mercenary Pen here, and first I'd like to address a minor piece of criticism from Devil Dog- Hey dude, you the son of an army officer or something knowing all that? However, no matter how valid your knowledge might be there's just a little something that needs spelling out here- I my be using what appear to be army ranks but I'm using an air force chain of command for the most part. To clear things up I shall now use the term squadron instead of squad.  
  
Now, on with the story dudes.  
  
Chapter Two:  
  
Colonel Zack Casage was in his office, idly reading through one of the many reports that occupied his daily routine. This war, he thought to himself, would at least do him some good, giving him both a greater chance of promotion and also getting him out from behind his desk every once in a while and onto the battlefield. He ran his hand across his tanned forehead, wiping away the sweat that had accumulated beneath his close-cropped white Mohawk.  
  
At that point a knock sounded on the door to his office, with a Lieutenant entering the room quickly when Colonel Casage ordered his entry.  
  
"Colonel, s-s-sir," stuttered the Lieutenant, "Major Lester reports that he has reached an agreement with prisoner #38471."  
  
"Go on," the Colonel replied amiably, sensing that he had just won a battle of sorts.  
  
"The prisoner is willing to assist our research and development department in exchange for a lifetime supply of instant noodles and the life of one particular enemy soldier, name of Leena Toros."  
  
"Have our intelligence specialists found the warrior in question?" asked Colonel Casage.  
  
"I-I don't know sir, do you want me to check up on that sir?" asked the Lieutenant.  
  
"Do that," replied the Colonel, and report back to me when they've dug up the information, and tell intelligence that they have my authorisation to use all necessary resources up to clearance level 8."  
  
"Y-y-yes sir," stammered the Lieutenant who backed hurriedly out of the colonel's office, anxious to be away from this reputedly capricious commander.  
  
Meanwhile, on the base of the Omicron Company, the troops had been rallied for their simulator exercise. Once they had been separated into four groups the preparations had become that much easier, with the Captain and each of the Lieutenants running their squadron through the drill to get the simulator system set up.  
  
Soon, each squadron had moved their zoids into one of four simulator hangars, taking huge cables from the standardised simulator modules and plugging them into the ports that had been installed the week before in the bellies of their zoids. They were ready for the first, and perhaps the most inventive, training exercise that they would ever face.  
  
Soon, the four squadrons were all ready, the warriors waiting, many of them tense for battle, inside the simulator modules to which their zoids had been connected, and then it began.  
  
Brady Cryer found himself on a desert island, around him the other four zoids of his squad stood in the sand or on the shoals that surrounded the island. Aside from his command wolf, his squadron consisted of a Genobreaker, jet black instead of the usual red, under the command of the mysterious Rene Sysen; the flame-red form of the Phoenix-series stormsworder whose pilot, Marcus Savirioth, had distinguished himself in military service to the empire before the war; the huge form of Philip Logan's Neo-Warshark, and finally, hovering above him, was the serpentine form of the Hellfire Drake, its wings, often concealed extended to their full span, its pilot, Antonio Darker making a last check on the combat systems of this one of a kind zoid.  
  
"Right people," Brady said over the intercom, "the rest of you are to go onto the offensive, I would join you but my command wolf can't swim, fly or hover, so I'll stay back at base camp to defend it. Remember, we only need to capture the enemy flag before they capture ours to win, time is of the essence here, don't get drawn into a slugging match if you can help it."  
  
With that said, the other four zoids of his squadron were underway, and watching them for a moment, Brady set his zoid's sensors for a ten mile proximity alarm, then slipped a book out of his pocket and continued reading it.  
  
Meanwhile, on another desert island, about one hundred miles away, or at least one hundred simulated miles away, Ari Dayton surveyed her own troops from the cockpit of her simulated Raynos, on the sand beneath her stood both the Liger-like form of "Tony" Dracker's Griffin, marred only by the wings and Gun pods that demonstrated the main differences between it and say, a shield Liger; and also the saurian form of Gavin Wilkinson's Rev Raptor X-alpha, a rare model of Rev Raptor which was a hybrid of the basic Rev Raptor and Gunsniper designs, using the arsenals and capabilities of each to overcome the weaknesses of the other. Meanwhile, already beginning to circle the island, Ricardo Delmondo, or Jaws as his friends and enemies alike referred to him, would prove useful for reconnaissance duty in his Warshark, and the aquiline form of the Falcyon, flown by one of its co- developers, Fritz Falke, would prove invaluable in mounting an airborne assault on the enemy bastion to capture their flag.  
  
Setting both the Rev Raptor and the Warshark to defence duties, Lieutenant Dayton took point in the formation formed by the rest of her unit, the Falcyon on her left flank while the Griffin, freshly launched from the ground, took up position on her right hand side. With that done, her troops moved out, accelerating to the high airspeeds that they hoped would get them through the enemy defences, whoever they were facing on this occasion.  
  
A short while later, Ari Dayton spotted something on her radar screen, heading towards them at such breakneck speed that it could only be an enemy air unit, then it was joined by two other radar signatures, both skimming barely above the waves. Suddenly they were in visual range, a red stormsworder, a black Genobreaker, and a serpentine zoid like nothing she had seen before.  
  
"This is group leader to assault group," her voice sounded over the comm system, break and attack, focus on the low altitude targets, the stormsworder is mine."  
  
This order was greeted by the immediate response of her two wingmen, who dove to begin their attack runs.  
  
Tony Dracker heard the command, and thought to himself, this was the chance he had been waiting for, his chance to test the new armour of the Griffin in battle against a charged particle cannon- without hesitation he angled the Liger-like zoid downwards, to meet the fury of a Genobreaker head on, as he took up position before his adversary of chance, his finger stabbed down on the fire button, releasing a brutal hail of fire from his gun-pods and also from the triple shock-cannon mounted on his zoid's belly, if he achieved nothing else he hoped to make his opponent mad. Before his very eyes, the eyes of the Genobreaker seemed to glow a malevolent shade of crimson, and within seconds, the mighty zoid had opened its gaping maw to reveal the mighty particle cannon that lay within, which, charged with the luminescent charge of about a terawatt of raw energy, would spell the doom of almost any zoid. Tony Dracker continued his onslaught, remaining in front of his target despite the grounds that would cause any sane pilot to run in abject terror, maintaining his withering barrage of firepower- suddenly, the charged particle cannon fired, engulfing the Griffin in light, until the beam shut off, to reveal the defiant form of the griffin, barely damaged by even the ultimate assault of the Genobreaker.  
  
Meanwhile, in the skies above them, the Stormsworder banked, leaving Ari Dayton's Raynos in hot pursuit, struggling to keep up with the phoenix-type stormsworder as it engaged the afterburners that would push it beyond the comfortable Mach 3 that a Raynos could ordinarily manage, forcing Ari to activate the Afterburners of her own zoid to keep pace with the zoid in front of her, once more she wished that her organoid, Ty, could have helped her out on this one, but the simulator didn't permit one, and that was that. The G-forces of each and every turn wrenching at her gut and throat alike, she followed the lightning-quick zoid in front of her, copying every move it made in a seemingly futile attempt to remain behind it, finally, she fired, punching half a dozen shots, out of the twenty five or more that she fired, straight into the stormsworder's rear fuselage and right wing, just as the missile-lock warning device in the console of her own zoid began to flash red and wail loudly, sure enough, her adversary, during his plummet to the ocean beneath, had launched all four of his missiles, hoping to take his opponent with him. With a last burst of strength Ari began to fight with her control yokes once again, alternately pulling and pushing on the troublesome controls, sending her zoid into a series of mad loops and convulsions in an attempt to outsmart the missiles that were heading for her, and with some success, the first missile impacting as it hit the water, the second straying into her guns for just long enough for her to shoot it down, and the third slamming into the stormsworder that had launched it, but finally the fourth hit, freezing her command system and sending her too, plummeting into the simulated ocean beneath.  
  
Fritz Falke skimmed the sea surface on his final approach to the serpentine Hellfire Drake, his zoid spitting twin volleys of laser bolts that converged on his target faster than he did, however the Hellfire Drake was now turning ponderously to face its new attacker, bringing to bear its weapons on the agile zoid that was harassing it, then it opened fire with its own pulse laser cannons equal in both number and power to those of the wheeling Falcyon, then it dived into the water, beyond the reach of the arsenal of the Falcyon, or so its pilot, Antonio Darker, thought. Fritz wheeled around to attack again, quickly changing weapons as he adjusted to the new tactical situation, finally dropping torpedoes and depth charges into the sea beneath as he skimmed overhead, before moving on to assist the Griffin in its campaign against the Geno Breaker.  
  
Tony Dracker was faring poorly, once his opponent had adjusted to the minimised damage that her charged particle cannon was able to wreak upon him, she had switched to other methods, launching the mighty grapnel claws of her zoid at the seemingly implacable Griffin, then retracting them and slowly crushing the various appendages and limbs of the Griffin, damaging legs, wings, gun-pods, tail, in short, anything it could get at with its claws, all the while holding the Griffin with at least one claw in such a way that it could not fight back, for while the Ultimium alloy of the Griffin (and a select few other zoids) was able to withstand energy weapons with little difficulty, it was weaker by far than most armour against the actions of melee weapons such as blades and claws. Just as Tony was beginning to give up hope, however, the Geno Breaker was rocked by missile fire from behind as the Falcyon sped towards it, firing both missiles and pulse lasers at the back of the deadly Geno breaker, wearing the beginnings of holes in the armour that covered the back of its mighty opponent, damaging the intake system for the Geno Breaker's charged particle cannon. Abruptly the Geno Breaker whipped around to face its new adversary, relaxing its grip upon the Griffin for just long enough for Tony Dracker to pull his wounded limping zoid free of the deadly embrace of its adversary. Taking every advantage he could from this respite, Tony Dracker remembered the goal of their mission, to capture the enemy flag without getting wiped out, and to do it before their own flag was captured, and so he turned from the battlefield to face his objective once again, thankful that the speed and agility of the Falcyon had fully occupied his adversary's attention.  
  
Meanwhile, beneath the waves, the Hellfire Drake and the Neo-Warshark continued on towards their target, their flank speeds, although nowhere near as fast as those of flying zoids, being enough to get them there both quickly and undetected.  
  
Fritz banked, his zoid barely evading the deadly onslaught of the Geno Breaker, wheeling around for yet another pass at the Geno Breaker's charged particle intake systems, finally rupturing them with his final conventional bomb, only to stray into the path of the Geno Breaker's full body cannon as it charged up regardless of the lack of regulation to its charging, and finally, with an intensity rarely seen, the Geno Breaker fired, the sheer force of the blast engulfing the mouth of the Geno Breaker itself, burning out the zoid's control systems. Both zoids were wrecked, and all because Rene had refused to use lesser weapons against her adversary.  
  
Brady awoke with a start, the proximity alert that he had set was shrieking like something demon-possessed- he hadn't meant to fall asleep while reading, it had just happened, and now he was paying for his lack of concentration- still, at least he had positioned his zoid right beside the enemy flag. He saw his target gliding in towards him, that's the Griffin, it belongs to, who was it again, Tracker or Crackers or some such. Looks pretty heavily damaged though, must have had a run-in with my forces, but does that mean that my units are out of the battle or that he escaped? These and a myriad of other thoughts whirled through Brady's head as the Griffin began its final approach to the isle where its ultimate goal stood.  
  
After what seemed like an age of deliberation, Brady armed the missile pod mounted on the back of his Command Wolf, letting fly a volley of three of his eight missiles at the oncoming zoid, enough, he thought, to finish his opponent off, but no, the Griffin just opened fire with its belly-mounted triple shock cannon, its only undamaged weapon, destroying the missiles which, designed for use against surface targets were neither designed to easily lock on to airborne targets, nor to evade aerial barrages while seeking out airborne targets. Crap, thought Brady, now he's too close for my missiles to lock on to him, I'll have to take him down the hard way. With that, Brady deactivated the clamps holding his missile pod onto the back of his zoid, just firing the remaining five missiles on a basic ballistic trajectory, as much so that the pod didn't get blown up with the missiles inside while the Griffin and Command Wolf fought at close quarters, destroying them both. Luckily the missiles weren't the only weapon that his Command Wolf had to offer him, and with that he brought the lupine zoid to a crouch, its body slanting upwards to the head at about a thirty degree angle or so, bringing the chest-mounted machine guns of his Wolf to bear on the incoming zoid, let him try and blow these out of the sky, he thought, opening fire with the paired machine guns, watching as the 240 rounds per minute from each gun impacted against the Griffin, some of them penetrating existing cracks in the zoid's once tough armour while others bounced off the remaining plating, doing little or no damage. But then, plummeting to earth where its command system was slowly giving up the ghost, the Griffin launched another six shells from its belly-cannon, taking the Command Wolf with it.  
  
But then, something inexplicable happened, the simulation ended. Surely the naval units under Lt. Cryer's command hadn't had time to reach their target and vanquish its defences, had they?  
  
Then, as he left the simulator, his defeated team-mates swamped him with triumphant grins upon their faces, demanding to know how he had managed to land his falling zoid with one foot on top of the enemy flag. He had won the mission.  
  
Phew, I'm very sorry that this particular chapter has taken quite this long to write, but here it is folks. Any problems with the way I've used your characters, just write it down in a review and I'll be happy to do something about it.  
  
Also, and this is to Devil Dog specifically, you didn't write your arsenal down for Brady's Command Wolf, so if you aren't happy for me to modify it, and perhaps Brady's zoid to suit the occasion, with upgrades/evolutions/arsenal changeover, say now or hold your peace for the rest of eternity.  
  
Anyhow y'all, MP signing off. 


	4. Chapter 3: The Defector

Okay, just to clarify stuff, TXLonestar character, Tony Dracker, did win the simulated battle by landing on the enemy flag when he finally crashed.  
  
Also, for the benefit off my readers I shall now detail some of my major influences (all of which I would recommend, incidentally) in the production of this particular participation-style fanfic, which are as follows:  
  
The Ancient War by Moonyasha )  
  
(Insert title here) by Black Hole Army Commander )  
  
X-Wing novels by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston (Bantam Books) Note: The X-Wing series consists of nine full novels set after the events of Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi.  
  
Anyhow, time to continue with the story:  
  
Chapter 3: The Defector  
  
It had been about two weeks since their training had started and Omicron Company were almost ready for front line duty. They'd have to be, Garth mused, because lately Chazidi forces were striking more boldly and frequently, seemingly willing to throw away any number of zoids in the pursuit of victory, but still entering each engagement with swarms of zoids so massive that they had to destroy at least some of their adversaries. Something had to be done about them and quickly, otherwise there would be too few zoids left in both the Helic Republic and the Empire combined to stand a chance against the Chazidi war machine.  
  
Meanwhile, in the base canteen, the rest of his company had assembled, swapping stories, trading chores and doing just about anything else they thought they could get away with, up to and including an out of tune rendition of the Guylosian national anthem by Gavin Wilkinson and Michael Jenson, which sent everyone outside the Omicron Company running from the canteen in terror before Michael's twin sister Maria got the pair of them to stop singing, mostly by threatening to get out her brother's embarrassing baby photos if they didn't.  
  
"Hey," Brady shouted across the roar of conversation to Riley Hikada, "What do you think tomorrow's conference will be about? Do you reckon they're finally sending us out to the front line, or something?"  
  
"I hope so," she replied, "I'm just about ready to teach those guys why they never should have been born. The main problem with going on the offensive, as I see it, will be defeating those mobile fortresses they use to defend their territory".  
  
Brady winced at the reference to the three Ultrasaurus, which roamed the main Chazidi landmass, each armed to the teeth with Plasma Particle Cannons and fully laden with enough zoids to lay waste about ten cities, these Mobile Fortresses would, in the hands of even the weakest enemy commander imaginable, prove to be a serious stumbling block on the way to winning this war.  
  
However, at just that moment the base's alarm klaxon sounded, telling all zoid pilots to get to their machines immediately. Once inside their zoids they were briefed by the base commander, who told them their mission was to track down and either capture or neutralise a renegade zoid pilot, who with his modified high speed Liger, which he had dubbed the Liger Saix, was in the process of attacking a small township whose only defence was a single Cannon Tortoise platoon.  
  
With their mission explained, the zoids of three out of four of the base's companies mobilised, Omicron Company providing the only air units of the group while Theta and Gamma companies, under the command of Garth's former team-mates, Captain Jake Sanders and Brevet-Captain Adrianne Tovas provided the vast majority of the ground troops for this operation, Theta Company providing the heavy weapons zoids while Gamma Company provided the High Speed zoids.  
  
They spread out, hoping to entrap even the blindingly fast Liger Saix in this way by cutting off all of its escape routes. Luckily, the Cannon Tortoises of the township under attack were in experienced hands and were still holding out against the assault of the Liger Saix, and its pilot, Kaze Holimion, relaying data on its location to the three companies of reinforcements. The airborne and high-speed units quickly bypassed the town, turning to cut off the other routes into it, meanwhile the slower, more ponderous Theta company moved in on the nearest approaches to the city, blocking them with what were mostly Dibisons, Elephanders and Ursazerks. On the North-western and South-eastern approaches Ligers, Zabers and Helcats appeared, augmented by the occasional Wolf or Fox that represented Gamma Company, along with the disparate ground zoids attached to Omicron company, then finally, breaking through the clouds, the remainder of Omicron company, who had gotten there first but remained in hiding, joined the battle.  
  
"Took you flyboys long enough," came the growl from Captain Jake Sanders, commander of Theta company and Garth's ex team mate.  
  
"Sorry about that folks," Garth replied, "we got hungry busy waiting for you folks and headed back to the base for a bite to eat." Everyone knew of course that this hadn't been the case, but it was normal practise for the pilots of airborne zoids such as Stormsworders, etc. to overemphasize the speed of their machines and to underemphasize the speed of the ground units arrayed beneath them.  
  
But then, the battle began, airborne units providing sensor data to the heavy guns of the Elephanders in an attempt to pin down the Lightning-quick foe, but somehow failing as the pilot continually modified his speed to throw off the targeting of his adversaries.  
  
It was at this point that Brady Cryer and a couple of the other Command Wolf pilots charged into action, despite orders to the contrary, evading the Elephander barrages with almost as much ease as their target as they slowly closed with the Liger Saix, their zoids going as fast as they theoretically could and overheating all the time as they were pushed far beyond their safety limits. Finally, just as the Liger Saix turned towards the oncoming Wolves, Brady got a target lock with the powerful double-barrelled beam cannon on the back of his Command Wolf. Firing, he watched in disappointment as the Liger Saix brought up its shields to block the shot, and then, activating its three booster units began to charge at a speed that was unbelievable even for a zoid and pilot of that calibre. Brady, however, had an idea as the mighty zoid charged towards him, and had the Elephander pilots target the area directly in front of his zoid, firing everything they had when the Liger Saix was directly in front of him, which they did, collapsing the shields of the mighty zoid, just as Brady brought his command Wolf up on its rear legs to slam down on top of the Liger Saix. The manoeuvre was ultimately successful, with the front left-hand leg of the Liger Saix being severed just as Brady's Command Wolf was slammed against the wall of the local police station. Brady's zoid was out for the count with a command system freeze, but the Liger Saix had been severely damaged in the exchange.  
  
However, it had been too much to hope for that such a skilled pilot would be alone and it was now that the various zoids with which he was allied, all of them belonging to the Chazidi air force and army revealed themselves.  
  
The Captains surveyed the enemy force before them, counting up the sheer number of zoids arrayed against them, which ranged from the Spider-like Raknix and the Salvodile to the mighty Ragnaroth, an evolution of the Redler that had been stumbled upon only four years before, and that only by a team of Chazidi zoid pilots. Then, in a snap decision they ordered the charge, Garth swooping into the cloud of Ragnaroths at the head of his airborne forces while the units on the ground, which incidentally included none of Omicron Company's naval might, charged to engage with the deadly Spider and Crocodile zoids that the enemy sent against them, many being defeated, at least for now, by the jaws and missile launchers of the Salvodiles or the leg-joint mounted blasters and razor-sharp mandibles of the Raknices.  
  
The battle did not last long, although there were rather too many casualties for the liking of any of the officers, let alone the unit medics and technicians, but the fact that they had won against a force numbering threefold their total number of zoids demonstrated that all three units were in top shape, each of them having held their own, despite not knowing the weak points of these enemy zoids.  
  
The next day, all of the top brass arrived at Red River base, where they were stationed, for the conference that was due to occur that day, with such commanders as Major Jamie Hermeros, who was Garth Meyer's direct superior and commander of the renowned eagle company, and also Captain Bit Cloud of the elite Omega company, as well as the Guylosian commander in chief, Emperor Felix, whose personal bodyguard, an elite Iron Kong unit called the Imperial Phalanx were to guard the base during this particular strategy session.  
  
Finally, once all of the commanders at the conference had arrived, and the zoids of their respective units were parked in the main courtyard of the base, and in the hangars of the base, and on the ground outside the base, the conference was ready to get underway. Unlike the other officers of Omicron Company, Brady Cryer, who had been injured in battle the previous day, although he would probably be fighting fit in two days time, was not part of the meeting, it having been decided that he needed to recover from his injuries far more than he was needed in the conference itself.  
  
Anyhow, Brady had pretty much free run of the compound and, at the present moment, his only worry was the state that his Command Wolf was in following the battle the day before, given that it had taken far more of a pounding than he had and was currently under the intense scrutiny of the base technicians, who were wondering themselves how much life his trusty zoid had left in it, given that he had pushed it so far beyond its safe limits yesterday. It had been arranged, however, that until his zoid recovered (assuming, of course that it did recover) he was to use a Juggernaut series Command Wolf whose pilot had been killed in an ambush five days before, when an enemy Gunsniper had put a single shell straight through the cockpit canopy, blasting straight through the head of the pilot. Admittedly the Command Wolf in question had needed a bit of cleaning and patching up in the cockpit, whose new chair was now a uniform grey instead of the patterned crimson of the chair taken out after the battle.  
  
Meanwhile, in the briefing room where the conference was taking place, the various commanders had just about seated themselves along with their various adjutants, the positions at the head of the table going to five particular officers: first, General Stefan Reibach, formerly president of the zoid battle commission; Major-General David Morgan, an officer in the Helic Republic Intelligence Division; Colonel Rufus Smythe, an ex-officer of the erstwhile Guardian Force (which, contrary to popular belief was not disbanded following the defeat of the ultimate Death Saurer, but was instead absorbed into the regular armed forces of the coalition at the beginning of this most recent war, over two hundred years after the defeat of the Death Saurer) who was now in charge of special operations, or spec. ops. as they were known in military parlance; fourth was the emperor Felix, purely out of deference to his rank, and fifth was Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Elliot, commander of the imperial base at Dragonhead and the final mastermind of the operation that would be unveiled today.  
  
It was time for the conference to begin, and so, with everyone rising to share a salute, the meeting began.  
  
"Okay," began General Reibach, "you all know why we're here today, and so, without further ado, I shall unveil Operation Fortress, in which we hope to create a foothold at the heart of enemy territory through the capture of one of the three enemy Ultrasauri, which they use as mobile fortresses."  
  
There were scattered murmurs as the full extent of the master plan of the coalition high command was revealed.  
  
"Now, you may be wondering why each of you was selected. Well, as you all know, each of you has been submitted to a major security evaluation during the last month, and all of you passed with flying colours, and each of you, including those here who are only in command of units in training, were the best loyal men that we could find.  
  
Now, I shall hand over to Lieutenant-Colonel Elliot, who will detail the various phases of this particular operation," and with that, General Reibach was seated.  
  
Lieutenant-Colonel Elliot stood, selecting a piece of paper from his briefcase, and walking to the front of the briefing room, that he might project details onto the large screen in the briefing room. "The first phase of the operation," he started, not wanting to belabour the details more than he needed to, "is to actually locate and pin down one of their mobile fortresses. This shall be the responsibility of units under the command of both Colonel Smythe and Major-General Morgan, with intelligence locating, with any luck, the weakest of the three fortresses and Special Operations troops disabling its drive systems and as much else as possible directly before the remainder of the operation begins. The next phase of this operation will be that of inserting the vast majority of our troops within striking distance of the disabled fortress, and this is the phase which will require the most explanation, so let us begin: This insertion will, due to the size of both the Chazidi Navy and Air Force be difficult, particularly due to the number and calibre of their zoids, although relatively few of their pilots can bring out the full potential of the machines which they are given. Therefore, we have decided that, to best escape the detection of our full forces, we will be delivering forces to the war theatre underwater, given that by doing so we avoid the detection of their airborne zoids, whereas our Hammer Kaisers and Whale Kings could not evade naval detection by means of aerial transportation. This also means that any enemy targets that our transport crews will face on the way across will be a lot slower and more easily targeted, both by the weapons systems of the transports themselves and also by those of the Warsharks and Hammerheads which will provide the transports with an escort. Moreover, this will be preceded by a series of aerial hit and fade assaults in other regions, designed to both weaken their airborne forces and lead them away from believing that we will mount a naval assault. The next part of this particular plan is perhaps the most crucial. Because the vast majority of enemy beaches have been littered with obstacles to prevent a landing, we have concluded that our heavy weapons units, or at least some of them, must be deployed while their transports are still underwater, walking up the slope to the beach in question from a depth of 90 yards, and more importantly doing so in incredibly heavy and unwieldy zoids which are not designed for amphibious combat. Of course these units will also be supported by units of marines, but those marine units are not particularly suited to defeating some of the heavy artillery emplacements that will overlook the beach.  
  
And so the briefing continued, detailing every last step of this particular operation, and covering various contingency plans in full prior to simulations of the basic mission while spec. ops. and intelligence put the final preparations into play, ready for the military campaign of the century.  
  
Then, once the discussion of operation fortress had come to an end, matters turned to more recent issues, such as the defector incident of the day before, whose perpetrator, the mercenary Kaze Holimion was currently occupying a prison cell on the base prior to his interrogation and execution (this is war, defection is a form of treason, with an added charge of destroying army property and assaulting superior officers to boot, and during war time at least the rules are clear, the death sentence must be given to the accused). But more importantly the less cut-and-dried issue of repairs and replacements of the zoids damaged in the skirmish was raised, with the decision to bring in the research and development experts, who had recently discovered a brand new repair/upgrade method, being reached, mostly because of the sheer number of zoids that would be needed almost immediately to properly train for, and later execute operation fortress.  
  
Meanwhile, in Chazidi territory the Whale King "Seahawke" was returning from a routine patrol, its commander, on this occasion Colonel Zack Casage, longing for shore leave after such a long patrol duty. But more importantly perhaps, Colonel Casage was looking forward to returning to the base because his new command vehicle should now be ready, a combat machine from which he could truly dominate the battlefields, the Shadow Fox.  
  
Finally, after a journey that seemed to last for hours, even though it took only seven and a quarter minutes, he was back aboard the Ultrasaurus "Bastion", whose hangar bay engulfed the Whale King as it descended, landing in what was a sparsely filled hangar, when studied with the naked eye, but, the Colonel mused, in the hands of the right commander, namely himself, and a group of competent zoid pilots, these few zoids (in comparison with the other two Ultrasauri and their selections of zoids) could prove deadlier than the Death Saurer itself. Sure enough, at the front of the amassed ranks of zoids was the black four-legged form whose yellow highlights told anyone that it could be nothing but a Shadow Fox, and beside it, its creator, Prisoner #38471, the supposed mad scientist doctor Leon.  
  
Walking briskly down the ramp, Colonel Casage headed directly for the doctor and his new command zoid. "I see you've finished it then," he began, before doctor Leon, in his grandiose voice, interrupted him.  
  
"I am proud," the doctor began, "to introduce to you, the zoid to end all zoids, the ultimate war machine, the Shadow Fox beta edition, whose already magnificent design has been enhanced by the addition of ultimate-X technology, putting it on a level with the best zoids the enemy have before you factor in its impressive array of weapons systems, some of which are alternative options that have only recently been developed." And so it continued, the doctor's voice reaching regular crescendos as he enthused about the best features of the new zoid and its special weapons, also describing other research projects he had begun that were of military significance.  
  
It was at about this same time that the post conference meal was being held back at the Red River Outpost, and as Tony Dracker entered the mess hall he saw Harry Champ sitting across from the table where the pilots of the Imperial Phalanx were seated, barely touching his food as he stared at them with a single-mindedness that was beyond even his usual degree of single-mindedness. Sensing the despondency that lurked within the soul of this usually arrogant and egotistical warrior, Tony approached, eager to see if he could finally break the ice with this particular comrade-in-arms, who had, up until now perhaps, resisted all attempts to bond him into the group mentality.  
  
Meanwhile, the twins Michael and Maria Jenson were at the centre of yet another argument, this time on the issue of whether Michael was pigging out having volunteered to eat the leftovers of those less hungry than the vast majority.  
  
And these incidents were joined by what seemed like a thousand more incidents as the mess halls around the base were filled with troops from disparate companies of regiments who got up to everything from arm-wrestling to betting on the number of platefuls of food Michael Jenson would get through or the number of times he would insult his sister with a mouth still full of food (which ended up being 462 times, so Lance Thompson won, as he had made the closest bet with 459).  
  
The worst incident of the gathering was undoubtedly the drunken arm-wrestle between Harry Champ and the nearly sober Bit Cloud, who wiped the floor with Harry (quite literally, but this happened directly after the arm wrestling match).  
  
Anyhow, on that note (as opposed to any note that might be considered musical) I shall end this particular chapter, but before I sign off as usual there's a few things I'd better do:  
  
Firstly, as a response to Kegger007, and as a general message to anyone out there who was wondering whether to get involved or not, I never turn down a submitted character, although I may occasionally rewrite them or something, and this is for Kegger007, if you were really serious about egging my house I would be forced to do something drastic, like shaving your head bald, that includes eyebrows, and feeding your hair to a chipmunk.  
  
Then, as a final thought before I stop thinking for the night, I shall quickly draw up a list of Omicron Company personnel for y'all.  
  
Omicron Company:  
  
Name (Rank)Zoid:  
  
Garth Meyer (Brevet Captain)Dragowing  
  
Harry ChampIron Kong/Stormsworder  
  
Delphi NeptuneWakeskimmer  
  
Lance ThompsonGuysack (Amphibious Assault Version)  
  
Ryu HakamiMecha Ryu  
  
Ari Dayton (Lieutenant)Raynos (with added afterburners)  
  
Ricardo "Jaws" DelmondoWarshark (recent model, extensively upgraded)  
  
Fritz FalkeFalcyon  
  
Gavin WilkinsonRev Raptor (X-Alpha Variant, Mk2)  
  
Tony DrackerGriffin similar to battle cougar?  
  
Riley Hikada (Lieutenant)Millennium Dragoon  
  
Maria JensonZabbat (upgraded, with ATS missiles as main   
  
weapon)  
  
Jurgens "Red-Eyes" DrakeBattle Cougar  
  
Michael JensonUrsazerk (fitted with anti-air cannons)  
  
Aegis KeenBlade Liger  
  
Brady Cryer (Lieutenant)Command Wolf (Currently in the repair shop)  
  
Antonio DarkerHellfire Drake  
  
Philip LoganNeo-Warshark  
  
Marcus SaviriothStormsworder (Phoenix-type)  
  
Rene SysenGeno Breaker  
  
Support personnel:  
  
Christine Price – Unit Quartermaster and transport pilot  
  
Benjamin and Sebastian – Unit Technicians  
  
Nathan Jacobs – Unit Cook, will be assigned to the unit when they move out as part of operation fortress.  
  
Anyhow, that's done so now I'll say the same old cliché, MP signing off. 


	5. Chapter 4: Preparations and Revelations

Okay y'all, time to get down to some serious business:

Chapter 4: Revelations and preparations.

**Interlude**

It has been said many times down history that those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are inevitably doomed to repeat them, and even on the planet Zi this saying has proven true time and time again, not least now, as the Chazidi Dictator, Field Marshal Lucius Storm seeks out, even as we speak, a deadly zoid of the past, much as did Minister Prozen of the Guylos empire more than two hundred years before. The object of his search, a zoid more deadly than the Death Saurer, whose fifteen hundred years of slumber have rendered it little more than a myth known only to the inhabitants of one single village in the middle of Chazidi territory, the village where Lucius Storm was born...

Until now, when a military construction team unearthed a ruined and abandoned Zoidian complex, whose carvings tell the story of this zoid, a machine that can turn ally against ally and brother against sister through its most devastating weapon. Now the search is on to uncover the primal fury of the Rare Kaiser.

This obsession has led many within his own ranks to consider him unstable and thus unfit for the duty of command, but they are more concerned, for the time being, with winning the war that his lust for power has dragged them into, hoping that victory over the greatest military threat on Zi might safeguard their power and temper the insane excesses of their dictator and commander in chief. These men risk everything to bring some sort of stability to their nation, although their motives are perhaps not so pure as they might be, given as Colonel Casage, one of the prime figures n this particular struggle, plans to seize power himself, but this power struggle may mean life or death for the people of the Chazidi Free States, and as such, is perhaps the most important struggle of this our time.

**End of Interlude**

It had been most of a week since the conference, and nothing seemed to have returned to normal in the days that had followed. The Red River base, which was incidentally sited a few miles upriver from the site of the base of the same name from the Helic-Guylos war of over two hundred years before, was crawling with personnel, most of whom were arriving from other bases throughout the coalition, doing their jobs and in some cases returning to their bases of origin, but in other cases staying because they had too much to be doing and too little time to do it all in. The most important arrival perhaps, was that of the coalition research and development team, whose job it would be to repair and upgrade many of the zoids on the base, including repairing Brady Cryer's ailing Command Wolf, which still looked to be an incredibly bleak prospect, even now that it had recovered enough not to deafen everyone around it with anguished metallic howls, but they had now begun to work their magic on the zoids of the base, the portable organoid system that they had developed from the shell of an old laptop computer now being wired up to Brady's Command Wolf, the pair of them inside some sort of energised cocoon, ready to evolve into a more powerful wolf perhaps.

Meanwhile, in Chazidi territory, another meeting was taking place aboard the Ultrasaurus "Bastion", and those attending this particular conference were perhaps the most important front line commanders in the entire Chazidi armed forces.

These men were: Colonel Zack Casage and his adjutant Major Adric Lester, Rear-Admiral Christian Zenevas, Air Marshal Thaddeus Martin, Vice-Admiral Darius Kolan, Major-General Roberta Hessling, and Lieutenant-Colonel Pedro Maximus.

The main topic for discussion was one that was the most important thing that they could conceivably discuss, the preservation of order within the Free States, and the curbing of the excesses of their commander-in-chief, if at all possible.

"Right," began Colonel Casage, who was presiding over the meeting, "we all know more or less why we're here, but I shall give us all a brief description of the current state of affairs so as to refresh our memories. To put it bluntly, the Free States are on the verge of an uprising, the excesses of Lord Storm are growing wilder and wilder by the day as he frantically searches for some legendary zoid that may or may not exist, and the coalition are massing more and more elite zoid units outside the effective range of even our best supported long range air units, ready to mount a comprehensive strike into our territory, and furthermore, we are being sabotaged from within by soldiers we have had no previous reason to suspect of working either as a toady to Lord Storm or as agents for the coalition. In short, if this continues for much longer, not only are we doomed but the Free States as we know them are also doomed, and Lord Storm is too far blinded by his own delusions of grandeur that he refuses to admit to that which is blindingly obvious to all of us, that his excesses will be the downfall of us all!" and with that Colonel Casage slammed his gloved fist into the mahogany tabletop around which they were seated, emphasizing his point as his voice reached the climax of its roaring crescendo.

It was at this point that Roberta Hessling brought him from his ranting with the question, "and what courses of action do you propose to deal with this crisis?"

Zack Casage stared at her, watching as she, the highest ranking female officer in the entire Free States, and someone who theoretically outranked him, although she deferred to his raw talent if nothing else, so carefully brought silence to the room.

"What I propose is this," Zack explained, "that we all keep what troops we can at home in preparation for defence against an enemy counter attack, and that we arrange, where possible for their counter attack to be focussed against myself, given that I happen to possess the greatest arsenal of experimental weapons of us all. Moreover, for the moment I propose that we try to moderate Lord Storm's excesses, although if that gets us nowhere we have only one option open to us, Lord Storm must be deposed by whatever means prove necessary, even if this means a temporary alliance with the enemy."

Thaddeus Martin began speaking almost as Zack Casage stopped, saying, "surely in the event of a major enemy offensive you don't just expect me to pull back my troops and let them through, do you?"

"Of course not, Marshal," came the mildly sarcastic reply from colonel Casage, "what I am saying is that the enemy will probably outflank both your patrols and those of the navies to effect a landing, and that I should perhaps coordinate the repulsing of the enemy in such a battle."

And thus the meeting continued, with Colonel Casage dominating the proceedings and much being decided, including the fate of three of the Coalition intelligence and Spec Ops agents who had been captured and imprisoned two days before.

Meanwhile, in Coalition territory, Omicron Company were lined up outside the Whale King of the Research and Development team, ready to board it and be issued with various items of gadgetry that might prove useful on the front line, and also, perhaps, to see some of the new zoids that were being developed, they hoped. Then, as the mouth hatch of the Whale King lowered, and the patrol zoids that would serve to prevent spying around this Whale King were deployed, these taking the form of a dozen Helcats, they boarded the Whale King. As they entered, they came face to face with the head researcher of the unit, Doctor Steven Toros, who led them past the four zoids that were being worked on, a Shadow Fox, a Rev Raptor, and two Shield Ligers, to an office at the back of the zoid hangar, where they were issued with secure frequency portable comm units, anaesthetic dart guns (in case they needed to take prisoners), also the latest incarnation of military body armour, which had been carefully tailored to their body shapes, and finally, specialist energised swords, based on the technology of the Blade Liger and similar zoids, which were to be the standard melee weapon of all elite troops within the coalition.

The base around them was a hive of activity, with everyone seeming to be about some urgent last minute task, the same was true of any one of another dozen or so coalition bases, whose occupants were performing last minute readiness checks on their zoids, loading and packing such essentials as ammunition, food supplies and emergency flares, ready to be off on perhaps the most important mission they'd ever participate in, the campaign that stood a chance of winning the war quickly, Operation Fortress. Those who were not preparing for extended deployment were mostly the air units that would be running the hit and fade assaults to weaken the enemy defences enough for the vast number of transports that would be carrying the invasion force to get through.

The War was ready for what might be its final act, the ultimate long-range assault in history.


End file.
